Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-10-06
to have been the first to use the needle
IN navigating the sea-

to have been the first to use the needle
In navigating the sea.
In the year 1858 learned Italian.
named Brunette Latini, who was after
wards tutor to the poet Dante, trav-
eled in England and visited, at Oxford,
Friar Roger Bacon, man devoted to
the pursuit of science. Latini wrote
letters home to his friends, in one of
which he says that Friar Bacon showed
him, among other things, "a black,
ugly stone called a magnet, which has
the surprising property of drawing
iron to it, and upon which, if a needle
be rubbed and afterwards fastened to
straw, so that it shall swim upon
water, the needle will instantly turn
toward the Pole Star; SO that, be the
night ever SO dark, neither moon nor
star visible, yet shall the mariner be
able, by the help of this needle, to steer
his vessel Alright"
Here we have the fact plainly stated,
as it had been Known to few persons
in England and France for many years.
friar Bocon impaired this knowledge
10 TIE Italian traveller as dreadful
Secret, perilous to disclose to the COM
mon people, and still more perilous to
make known to the ordinary priests of
the age, Latini explains the reason,
and in truth, Roger Bacon passed ten
years OF his life a prisoner, partly be-
cause he knew little too much of the
secrets of nature, and partly because
he advocated the reform of the church.
''This discovery" continues Latini,
(which appears useful in so great a
degree to all who travel by sea, must
remain concealed until other times;
because no master-mariner dares to
use it, lest he should fall under the
suppositon of being magician; nor
would even the sailors venture them
selves out to sea under his command,
if he took with him an instrument
which carries so great an appearance
of being constructed under the influ-
ence of some Internal spirit"
These two learned men conversed
upon this wondrous quality of the
magnet, and they looked forward to
some happier time, when men should
be more enlightened, and not afraid to
make researches in natural science.
Then, said Latini, mankind will reap
the benefit of the labors of such men
as Friar Bacon, and bestow honor
upon them 'instead of obloquy and re-
proach. "
Neither Bacon nor Latini lived to
see that better time for which they
hoped. When they had been dead one
hundred and fifty years, the Portu-
guesc, under Prince Henry, the Nav
igator, were using the compass in their
voyages down the African coast. In n
few years the Madeira and the other
Atlantic groups were discovered by its
assistance. The Cape of Good Hope
was turned and India reached by
sea. One of the mariners formed in
the school of Prince Henry was man
destined to put the compass to the sub
lime use of discovering y new world.
Seamcn did not long employ so awI-
ward an instrument as a neeJ.,le float
ing in a straw on bas;,n of water.
About the year 1900 az. italian nayiga.
tor named Flavio Gioja, there is good
reason to believe, constructed the
compass su.,n as we now commonly
nave, necdle mounted upon a pivot
and IAclosed in a box
dhe Italian word for compass is Dos.
SOFA, which signifies box; and from
this the French word for compass is
derived, bouSsole, which also means
box.
| These were admirable improve,
{ ments, and made such an impression
that the improver is frequently spoken
of as the inventor of the compass. The
true inventor was the unk known man
, when did he live, and where did he
liveP no one can tell-who first OBJ
served that needle, rubbed by the
magnet, has an inclination to point L
the north.
One curious fact remains 10 be men
, toned. The modern compasses, those
used in the naval services of Europe
and America, as well as by the Allan
tic steamships, resemble in principle
the needle and floating straw men
toned by Roger Bacon.
, Rtchie's "liquid compass" has tn,
needle inclosed in thin, round meta
case, air tight, which floats upol
, liquid, and has also the support of
pivot. The needle, being thus upheld
by the liquid, can be heavier, and thu
{ have more powerful directing force
5 This we may call return to first prin
. ciples.
So much for the history of the com
= pass. which has doubled the area o
, civilization, and brought the two grea
continents within easy visiting dis
{ tance of one another. A needle in
, straw, afloat in basin of water! !
charm hanging at lady's watch! !
Z box with card in it. suspended upo
> pivot! What little thing to be G
9 such immeasurable value! - Jane
, Parton, in Youths Companion.